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The Twilight Zone (1985)
The Twilight Zone or The New Twilight Zone was an American anthology TV series that aired from 1985 to 1989, spanning 3'' seasons and ''65 episodes. Summary It was Serling's decision to sell his share of the series back to the network that eventually allowed for the first The Twilight Zone revival. As an in-house production, CBS stood to earn more money producing The Twilight Zone than it could by purchasing a new series produced by an outside company. Even so, the network was slow to consider a revival, shooting down offers from the original production team of Rod Serling and Buck Houghton and later from American filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola. Their hesitation stemmed from concerns familiar to the original series: Twilight Zone had never been the breakaway hit CBS wanted. However, in the early 1980s, a new generation of writers and directors emerged from the very teenagers who formed the core of The Twilight Zone's original audience. First came The Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Scott Zicree, an in-depth look into the history of the series that won critical accolade, a 1983 nomination for the American Book Award and a place on best-seller lists across the nation. Also encouraging were the new numbers from Nielsen and the box office alike. Despite lukewarm response to Twilight Zone: The Movie, John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller's theatrical homage to the original series, CBS gave The New Twilight Zone a greenlight in 1984 under the supervision of Carla Singer, then Vice President of Drama Development. Jerry Garcia was recruited to compose a new theme for the series, performed by the Grateful Dead. Filling in for Rod Serling (who died in 1975) as narrator was Charles Aidman, himself the star of two classic The Twilight Zone episodes. The Twilight Zone ran for two seasons (in an hour format) on CBS. An additional season of half-hour programs was produced in 1988 to "pad" the series' syndication package. Robin Ward replaced Aidman as the narrator of these Canadian-produced episodes. Unlike Serling and Forest Whitaker (who would host another revival in 2002), neither Aidman nor Ward appeared on screen. While the show didn't match the enduring popularity of the original, it did develop its own cult following and some episodes — including the love story and J. Michael Straczynski's — were widely acclaimed. In a tribute to the original series, the teaser at the beginning of the show has a brief ethereal glimpse of Rod Serling. Guide to episodes *List of Twilight Zone (second series) episodes See also * The Twilight Zone * * The Twilight Zone (Third Series) * The Twilight Zone (2019 Series) * * List of memorable quotes from the second series Notes and References Notes References * Harlan Ellison: "The Deadly "Nackles" Affair". The Twilight Zone Magazine, February 1987 * Jefferson Graham: "The Twilight Zone Returns". The Twilight Zone Magazine, April 1985. * Wikipedia contributors. "The Twilight Zone (1985 TV Series)." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Update: 2009-04-28 & 2009-05-13. Retrieved: 2009-05-01 & 2009-05-13. * Marc Scott Zicree: The Twilight Zone Companion. Sillman-James Press, 1982 (second edition) External Links * The Twilight Zone (1985) at the Internet Movie Database * TV Tome series page for the first revival * Postcards From The Zone (Extensive episode guides, including photos) Category:TV Series